Greater Wellington Regional Council [GWRC] chair Daran Ponter says he will be knocking on the government’s door for an explanation if Waka Kotahi doesn’t fund new trains for Wairarapa.
The regional council’s Wairarapa Committee discussed the future of the region’s rail line at a recent meeting.
GWRC – which owns Metlink – currently has a bid in to fund the line’s rolling stock, which is coming to the end of its life.
The bid – which Wairarapa mayors recently threw their support behind – is part of a $608 million joint budget bid to improve rail services across the lower North Island.
If successful, it would double peak services on the Wairarapa line from three to six each morning and afternoon, and add off-peak and weekend services, using tri-mode trains that emit eight times less carbon than current diesel locomotives.
Masterton Mayor Gary Caffell, Carterton Mayor Ron Mark, and South Wairarapa Mayor Martin Connelly joined other regional leaders in penning a letter to Finance Minister Grant Robertson and Transport Minster Michael Wood supporting the Lower North Island Rail Integrated Mobility proposal.
Caffell said that new trains are now desperately needed on the Palmerston North and Wairarapa lines to replace end-of-life carriages that will be 55 years old by 2027 and are unlikely to be certified for further operation.
Metlink chief executive Samantha Gain told the committee the group has their fingers and toes crossed that the funding for the trains would be approved.
As soon as Metlink knows the outcome of the bid, they will be in the market to buy new trains, she said.
GWRC deputy chair and Wairarapa representative Adrienne Staples said the trains are at the end of their life, and the council does not have a Plan B.
“Is it something we need to start to get our heads around – that if we don’t get the government funding, we’re not going to have trains?” she asked Gain, who noted the council will need to have a discussion about what they can do if they can’t get funding.
GWRC chair Daran Ponter said if the funding was not received, he would be both expressing his disappointment and closely questioning the government about the decision.
“If we don’t get this funding, I will be at the government’s doorstep, and they will need to explain how they will get people from Masterton to Wellington and down the Kapiti Coast.”
Rail patronage is significantly higher than buses in Wairarapa, but service reliability is unsatisfactory, Gain observed, with much of that unreliability due to trains being replaced with buses and local roadworks.
“We have had some staff unavailability issues experienced on the rain network,” she said. “They need to have a whole crew available to run the train, and there’s been some issues being able to get a whole crew together.”
